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Thursday, June 9, 2011

We've loved admiring Kate from Swim Bike Quilt's work through blogs...and it was so fun to meet her in person at market! She is super sweet and we just wish we could have had more time to get to know her and so many others. If you haven't been by Swim Bike Quilt before make sure to say hi...not only does she do great charity work (which we'll get into) but you can get some great eye candy browsing her flickr!

Last year, after seeing all of the beautiful nine-patch quilts as part of Amanda Jean's quilt-along, I decided it was time to join in. I love the idea of a quilt-along, but I rarely join in until after the fun is over (case in point: I recently finished an Urban Lattice quilt as part of Cara's quilt-along, well after the party was over. I couldn't help myself--there were too many great versions of the quilt out there, and I thought it was the perfect pattern for a gift for a friend's birthday).

In November, I finally finished the quilt, which ended up quite a bit smaller than Amanda Jean's. I had meant for the quilt to sit on the couch in the basement during the sunshine-y summery months, but instead it ended up on my son's bed. I have a quilt all cut out, ready to be sewn for his new twin bed, but haven't quite gotten around to it. Perhaps you have one or two of those lying around as well? I do not like cold, or snow, it is the Bay Area girl in me, I guess, so it was kind of nice to see the bright and cheery quilt all winter long--it reminded me of warmer weather.

My favorite part about this quilt (besides the fact that it is actually being used at my house, instead of elsewhere) is that it is like a project scrapbook/album from the last year or two. The first pieces of modern fabric my sister-in-law sent me from NYC seven or eight years ago are represented, as are fabrics from a quilt I made my best friend's son, a piece of ric rac fabric that I hemmed and hawed about for an hour before I bought it just because I loved it (silly, I know), fabric from my first quilt of the modern era, etc. etc. I'm kind of sentimental that way--perhaps I need to find (or start) a spiderweb album quilt-along in the fall.

Finally, I still have 1/3 of the original nine-patch blocks sitting in my WIP pile. If anyone is interested in them, leave a comment and I'll put them in the mail. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has unfinished projects in a bin-- I would love to invite you to finish up (or start) a baby quilt or two to donate to kids in need in your community this fall. Last year, we hosted a very impromptu charity quilt drive we called 100 Quilts for Christmas. I am mixing things up a bit this year; the quilt drive will run from September 15-October 15, there will be a reader's choice prize for the favorite donated quilt, and great giveaways to encourage quilters in this great online community to make and donate quilts as part of the new and improved 100 Quilts for Kids. Please consider grabbing a button and putting it on your site; I'm hosting some post Quilt Market giveaways on my blog, www.swimbikequilt.com, until Monday, June 13, 2011 to help spread the word about 100 Quilts for Kids. I hope you join us!